Birthday With Friends
by T. Rivard
Summary: For the first time Harry is going to be with his friends on his birthday. Ron and Hermione have hit things off, but what is the surprise party? And what is Ginny's surprise Gift? RWHG, HPGW


**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, or anything else within this fan-fic. I do not intend and I will not allow myself to make any form of profit off of it.

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Harry opened his eyes to a dark room. His mind filled with emotions as soon as his pupils ran the decorations of the wall. It was early morning and Harry could feel his heart tense knowing he was lying in a bed that was roofed by Sirius's own home. The pain the house caused him and the memories they held were difficult to drown out, although Harry had begun to deal with loss quite well, and as long as he wasn't trying to sleep or waking up he was just fine.

Harry turned on his side and looked across the room where Ron was sleepy soundlessly. It was very interesting to listen to him snore and he had to hold back a laugh until he was out of bed, dressed, and had closed the door behind him. The hallways were still pretty dark seeing as the sun had not yet risen overhead. The month of July was drawing close and Harry knew that the next day was none other than his birthday. He was looking forward to it with all his heart, but worried, it would be the first time he was with his friends on his birthday. Would he finally be able to have a real party? If so Mr. Weasley mentioned nothing of it the night before.

Harry plopped down on one of the couches in the small living room they had cleared out and stared at the painting on the wall across from him.

"Doing okay Harry?" An all too familiar voice said to him. His head almost snapped as he turned to oneself to stare at the Dumbledore. The man seemed to get older by the day. His eyes drooped with tiredness and his beard fell longer than it ever had. The beard itself had become whiter and so had the old man's face. He did not seem to be the feared wizard he once was anymore.

"I'm doing better here," Harry muttered. He was glad of course that Dumbledore was talking to him, and although he knew why he had to return to the Dursley's place, he hated it there.

"Ah," Dumbledore said with that intelligent look on his face. Harry knew instantly he was in for a nice long lecture, something he didn't look forward to every time he woke up in the morning for sure. "Well, we have gone over that, Harry."

"I know professor, but I wish that I could always just come straight to be here with my friends. I had to learn of Ron and Hermione's little hook-up by letter because I wasn't here to have them tell me." Harry had been itching to tell someone about his frustration at finding out his best friends had been having a romantic summer. He doubted it would have bothered him if he hadn't been stuck cleaning out garbage pails back at the Dursley's when he had read Ron's letter. He hadn't even received one from Hermione, although he did get the feeling that part of Ron's letter was written by her.

"Well, I am sure you will agree that your safety is more important than hearing what your friends have to say to you," Dumbledore said and Harry could see a slight bit of pain in Dumbledore's eyes and decided not to press matters anymore. He just turned and stared into the fireplace. There was no fire burning in it at the moment but he wished there was because it would have been something better to look at.

"Well, I should be off, Harry." Dumbledore said as he stood up. "I will most definitely see you at school." He walked towards the exit to the room and turned to look at Harry. "And don't forget, work on those Occlumency lessons." The old man then turned and left the Black household.

Harry wished that the headmaster would not remind him of that all the time. Every time he thought about the Occlumency lessons he remembered why Sirius had died. The guilt was what was driving him insane. First it was his fault that Cedric died, and now it was his fault that Sirius died. He sometimes wondered if he was a jinx and whether his friends were safer not around him. If he hadn't known the real reason for him being stuck in Privet Drive he was sure that it would have been that reason that flooded his mind over the summers.

"HARRY!"

Harry jumped as he heard the shout behind him. He turned to see Ginny basically bounce off the bottom stair as she ran over to him throwing her arms around him. She gripped him tightly with a very tight hug before letting go. Although she didn't look away or anything Harry could see her red face and knew she was blushing.

"It's so good to see you. I am so glad you're finally here. I have so much to tell you." Ginny said all in one breathe before trying to breathe again.

Harry laughed and the terrible thoughts about the deaths of Sirius and Cedric erased from his mind. "Easy there Ginny." He said to her very happy that someone was finally awake. "How are you doing? What about Hermione? I am of course assuming she is here."

"Yes, although it's jut mum, dad, Ron and Hermione here as of last night. And me of course. I am sure dad told you about the past month all on the ride here."

Harry laughed again remembering the conversation he had had with Mr. Weasley. He had told Harry more than he should have in return for some more info on the new muggle invention of the internet. "Yes, he did tell me a lot."

"Good, saves me some time," Ginny said still smiling and still blushing. Harry began to wonder why and decided he better try.

"Hear much from Dean?" Harry asked Ginny. He could tell the answer just by the look on her face.

"Don't mention him around Ron," Ginny whispered. "He broke up with me by letter only two weeks into the summer and Ron had a fit of how stupid he was. That was, of course, only a few days after I caught him and Hermione kissing in his room."

Harry laughed remembering how Ron's letter had included parts of Ginny walking in on their romantic evening. "See any books or parchment out?" he asked remembering that Ron had said they had only planned on doing homework, 'things just sort of happened' was what he had written.

"I don't believe so," Ginny said to him smiling brightly and sitting down on the couch. Harry was about to follow her move when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Harry dear!" Mrs. Weasley sang as she saw him standing by the couch. "How have you been? Those muggles didn't treat you too bad I hope."

Harry lied and shook his head pushing away the thoughts of the past month.

"Good," She said. "Now I am just gonna wip up some breakfast and you'll be eating in no time." She turned and headed into the Kitchen with a very awkward spring in her step. Harry turned back to Ginny and he sat down next to her on the couch. He could tell she was tired now and way before he was able to get a word out she had fallen onto his chest fast asleep. She was very cute when she was sleeping.

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**Author Notes: **I hope you enjoy it, this is of course just the beginning. Much more to come, I am beginning to really enjoy writing these and am looking forward to reading your reviews.


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